


20-20

by askboo



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Rough Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-12 19:21:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12966603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/askboo/pseuds/askboo
Summary: Kent and Jack like sex the way they like hockey - that is to say, intense, all-consuming, at times death defying.Bitty likes sex the way he likes hockey, too, in the sense that he really, really enjoys it and he thinks it’s super great, but he probably wouldn’t, y’know, risk his life or limbs for it, unlike some people.





	20-20

**Author's Note:**

> I've got a life-time ticket for the Pimbits train.

Kent and Jack like sex the way they like hockey - that is to say, intense, all-consuming, at times death defying.

Bitty likes sex the way he likes hockey, too, in the sense that he really, really enjoys it and he thinks it’s super great, but he probably wouldn’t, y’know, risk his life or limbs for it, unlike some people.

Bitty walks into their apartment in Providence to find Kent and Jack fucking on the couch. The way they have sex with each other is the way they do everything together, which is to say, it’s primarily a fierce competition. They fuck like they’re trying to out do each other, last longer, make the other shout louder, come harder. They bite and they scratch and they get mean. It’s easy to understand now, how when alcohol and drugs and teenage hormones had been involved, it had all crashed and burned. It’s beautiful and painful to look at now, like staring at the brightest part of a fire for too long. It stirs up fire in Bitty, too, only a little more muted, like embers in his belly. He drops his bag and leans back against the door to watch.

Sometimes when he watches them like this, it’s difficult to remember what they keep him around for at all. Only when it’s done, he finds himself with a sudden weight, and it’s Jack hanging all over him, still breathing hard, nuzzling his hair and kissing his neck. Kent is on the couch on his back, his eyes dazed, and he’s reaching one arm out for Bitty, beckoning him closer, begging, needy. Then, Bitty remembers.

~

Kent had come back into their lives two years ago, when both he and Jack had played a big part in a national campaign to end homophobia in the NHL. It had been a lot of interviews, photo shoots, events and conventions. Through that, somehow, through being forced to spend time together, through the doing good, they’d been able to put their painful past aside, maybe even understand it a little better. Bitty liked Kent, too, found they had a lot in common, maybe even more than Bitty did with Jack. 

And it wasn’t so hard to see that they still wanted each other. Really, it should have been obvious that they always had. Bitty would catch Jack staring, that low lidded gaze Bitty was usually the recipient of, and he could feel the tension in him when Kent was around, being flirty and provocative, nipping at Jack like he always was. 

But Jack was good and loyal, and he loved Bitty, so he didn’t say anything about it. It was Bitty, who didn’t mind the idea as much as he’d thought he might, that was the one to bring it up.

“Why not?” Bitty said one night, sitting in Jack’s lap on their couch, his arms resting over his shoulders. “I like him. You want him. That’s something I might like to see.”

Jack tilted his head back against the couch and looked up at him. “Just see?” he teased.  


“Real up close,” Bitty said back. He brushed Jack’s hair back from his forehead. “It’s not like it’d be cheatin’.”

Jack was quiet for awhile, his hands roaming Bitty’s sides. “It’s different, with him,” he said. “That’s a side of me you might not like to see.”

“Oh, honey, I’ve seen it,” he said, and kissed Jack on the lips. “Just ‘cause it doesn’t work for me doesn’t mean it’s a side of you that you have to kill and bury. It might be good for it to see some sun.”

Jack licked his lips. Bitty could see the idea taking hold. “We’ll have to talk about it, a lot,” he said. “And keep talking about it.”

“Just like always,” Bitty promised, and they called Kent the following morning.

~

Dating two people was less structured than Bitty had expected. There weren’t really schedules or flow charts. A lot of the time it was the three of them together, and sometimes it was just Jack and Kent, and sometimes it was just Jack and Bitty, but it actually took a few months before the opportunity arose for just Bitty and Kent. 

The Aces were out early but the Falcons were still going, and Kent was spending a lot of time at their apartment in Providence. Jack had left for an away game, and Bitty had nerves like a first date. He cooked dinner for Kent, plied both of them with plenty of wine, and they watched a movie together on Jack’s ridiculous flat screen. The two boys on the couch had ants in their pants, antsy, and Bitty was half-hard with anticipation even though they were watching Bridesmaids. Typically, it was Kent who finally broke and kissed him, and they made out on the couch for a long time, until Bitty was lightheaded. 

They moved things to the bedroom and Kent was acting like they were on a timer, like Bitty was going to disappear from under his hands if they weren’t fast enough. He tugged at Bitty’s clothes, peppered sharp kisses over his neck and chest, and Bitty liked it, it felt good, but it also felt wrong, like Kent was anxious.

“Honey,” he said, taking Kent’s handsome face in his hands. Eric relaxed back into the pillow and smiled up at him. “Slow down. I’m not going anywhere.”

He lifted his head and kissed the surprised Kent gently on the lips, and then rolled him onto his back. Taking charge meant showing Kent what slow sex was like, and by the end of it he had Kent covered in goosebumps and shivering, his eyes a little damp, and that was when Eric figured out that Kent had never had sex like this, and how badly he had needed it. 

~

Of course, Eric had some learning to do too.

One night they were all in bed together, and he had opened his foolish mouth, chastising Jack and Kent for how rough they were being with each other, chirping that was bordering on mean. It was foolish because then they were both grinning at him, their solitary focus, and now they were trying to get him to try it out, to say something mean. Sexy mean.

Kent was stretched out in the bed, shirtless, his arms up above his head. He had marks all over him from Jack’s teeth, which Bitty just wanted to sooth away. He was smirking up at Bitty, patiently waiting, while Bitty sat there and tried to think of something. The problem was, he couldn’t think of anything mean that he wanted to say. Thinking of criticizing either of his boys made him feel awful and small, the way it would have if they had ever said something mean to him. But now he wanted to try, at least, to serve them both right, and also because he knew they liked it.

“C’mon, Bits,” Kent said, smirking up at him, waiting.

Bitty frowned at him and leaned close. He tweaked Kent’s nose between his fingers. “You’re trouble,” he said.

Jack burst out laughing, and he tucked his face into Bitty’s neck, pressing affectionate kisses along his nape. “Aw, Bits,” he said.

“What,” Bitty said defensively, because Kent was laughing too.

“I just love you,” Jack said, and he let Bitty go so that Kent could pull him down and nuzzle him too.

~

It wasn’t all sunshine and roses, though.

Two professional athletic careers were hard enough to balance, let alone a third career thrown into the mix. And no matter how you looked at it, Kent had joined in on an already established relationship, no matter how hard they worked to never make him feel that way. There were some things that couldn’t be helped, like Bitty’s established life in Providence. He tried to spend as much time in Vegas as he could - but his home, his job, his friends, were here. It wasn’t always possible to pick up and spend weeks in Vegas with Kent as he might have liked. Jack and Bitty just inevitably got to spend more time together and they all knew that it hurt.

There was also just the inevitable challenges of a relationship that involved three people. There wasn’t a whole lot of guidance out there to begin with. And Jack and Kent’s propensity towards spitfire when it came to one another didn’t only find expression in bed - they got mean and petty with each other in daily life, too, and inevitably Bitty found himself caught in the middle. 

“Don’t touch me, Kenny, I mean it,” Jack said one night, dark eyed and cagey.

Kent didn’t touch him, as requested, but what he did do was touch Bitty more than normal, making a point of it, shooting Jack glances. Bitty didn’t like it at all, being used as a bargaining chip between them, which he said very clearly as he packed himself a bag and went to spend the night at Lardo’s.

They discussed it, after. They had to do a lot of discussing. A lot of self-reflection, a lot of changes to habits that weren’t comfortable at first. But it was worth it, because they were all happier with this than they had ever been, and it was something worth working on.

~

“What did you need me for?” Kent asked them one night.

They were all in Vegas for once, and Jack was sitting on the floor between Bitty’s knees while Bitty dried his hair with a towel. They both looked up at Kent, identical expressions of surprise. There was a long silence that agitated Kent, and he stood, running a hand through his hair as he paced.

“Honey,” Bitty said. “We didn’t need you.”

Kent stopped short, turning to stare at Bitty as if he’d been slapped.

“I don’t need you,” Bitty told him softly. “I don’t need Jack, either. Need is no good, honey. We wanted you. We still want you.”

Jack reached his long arm out for the bottom of Kent’s shirt and pulled him in, dragged him down to the floor next to him. The kiss was very thorough. “Every day we all make a conscious choice to keep this going,” he murmured. “Every day we choose you, Kenny. And you choose us, too.”

Kent relaxed into Jack, and leaned against Bitty’s legs too. “I guess that’s okay,” he whispered.

~

Tonight, Bitty finds himself squished between two sweaty, giant men on the couch. He’s got a lot to do, he needs to meal plan and cook lunches for the rest of the week, he needs to put a load of laundry in, but he stays put, soothing a bite mark on Kent’s collar with tiny kisses and stroking Jack’s arm gently with one hand. They’re all right where they want to be.


End file.
